Encounters
by dazzledduo
Summary: Bella and Edward meet at college. All human. Emmett and Bella are siblings. Canon pairings


I sat at the café, my laptop placed in front of me, my hands poised an inch above the

**Disclaimer****: All the characters belong to the mastermind that is Stephenie Meyer! **

**Rating****: T**

**Summary****: All Human. Bella meets her soulmate Edward at college. Story of their romance. Emmett is Bella's older brother. Canon pairings. **

**Chapter 1 **

I sat at the café, my laptop placed in front of me, my hands poised an inch above the keyboard; every so often I would move to type, but got no further than a couple of sentences before I would sigh exasperatedly and delete whatever I had written.

I was bored, my writers block was getting frustrating. I took a sip of my drink, and attempted to write a complete sentence, failed and slammed the laptop lid down in frustration. I stood up, threw a couple of dollar bills on the table for the drink, gathered my stuff and made my way into the busy street.

I turned left and began to walk in the general direction of my truck, only to have my way

blocked when I slammed into something warm and strong, I bounced off the 'wall' and

landed on my backside, dropping everything I was holding.

"Oh!" I mumbled, completely bemused as to what had just happened.

"Are you alright?" a velvety voice, knitted with anxiety, asked me.

I lifted my head and my eyes instantly locked with a pair of bright green eyes. I nodded

and stammered: "I think so, I'm not sure about my stuff though" I gestured around me,

where my laptop bag lay half-open with the laptop itself poking out of the top and my

folders and textbooks were spread out over the curb, covered in dirt.

"I'm so sorry" the man muttered "Here let me help you," he held out his hand to me,

I took it and he pulled me up. I straightened gingerly, checking for any injuries.

"Nope nothing broken, I think I may even escape bruises" I stated.

The mystery man had begun to pick up my stuff, I helped.

"How do you know?" he asked curiously.

"I am an expert on all injuries, I am the clumsiest person you will ever meet. A complete

klutz, I find it very hard to walk across a straight, flat surface without falling over." I

explained.

"I see. Well I'm sorry for causing you to trip over this time; I suppose I would be difficult

to not fall over if you find flat surfaces hard enough." He apologised "Would you like me

help you clean all the mud off your books, my car is just over there," he said pointing to

the parking lot where my truck was also parked.

"It's okay, thank-you, my trucks over there anyway." I thanked him

"Fine then, I'll walk you over, wouldn't want you tripping again would we? I'm Edward

by the way."

"Bella" I told him, as he picked up my stuff and balanced it on his arms, his muscular,

well defined arms, beautifully exposed by his short sleeved shirt. My eyes raked over his

tall, well-muscled form till they reached his face. It took my breath away, his face was

beautiful, his strong well-chiselled features, his tousled bronze hair gently moved in the

wind. He was beautiful. I started forward leading him to my ancient red truck.

"Nice car" he chuckled

I threw him a look; everyone mocked my truck, especially my brother Emmett. "Don't

insult the truck, it's a brilliant truck, never breaks down. Real cheap to run." He continued to laugh.

"Where's your car before you mock mine" immediately on the defence.

His eyes sparkled with amusement as he pointed across the lot to a silver Volvo, the nicest car in the parking lot. I sighed.

"Okay then, you" I punctuated the 'you' with a pointed finger "should show my car some respect, it's old enough to be your cars grandfather."

He laughed, patted the side of the truck, and apologised: "I am very sorry Bella's truck and Bella, I forgot my manners."

"The truck accepts your apology, and so do I" I replied. "Thanks so much for your help," I said whilst depositing my belongings in the passenger seat of my truck.

"No problem, Bella. I'll be seeing you." He grinned at me.

I climbed in the truck and waved at him. I shove the key in the ignition and turned, scrunching my eyes in the anticipation of the familiar loud engine. Nothing. I sighed and tried again, nothing. "Great" I muttered to myself.

I climbed out of the truck and saw a shiny silver Volvo parked directly behind the truck, with an amused Edward poking his head out of the window.

"Need a lift?" he asked

I nodded, grabbed my stuff and stalked over to his car.

"Stupid, shiny Volvo owner" I muttered. He just laughed.

"It's a brilliant truck, never breaks down… no never. Real resilient" he mimicked

"Oh ha ha, very funny" I snapped, although a reluctant grin spread across my face.

"Are you in college?" I asked, sure that he must be in his early twenties.

"Almost, I start tomorrow, that's why I'm here, I was attempting to find the lay of the land before I start. How about you?" he asked.

"Me too, I mean I start tomorrow too." I was shocked. He must only be nineteen at the most. "How old are you?" I enquired.

"Nineteen, last June, you?"

"Eighteen. I'll be nineteen on Wednesday."

"Where you staying?" he asked.

"Oh, I have a flat with my best friend Alice"

"Cool, I'm living on campus at the moment. I'm looking for a flat though"

"If you turn left here it's the building on the right," I directed. He pulled up at the front of the apartment building.

"You can come in if you like, meet Alice. If you have the energy" I asked

He raised an eyebrow.

"She gets excited, and she may want to take you shopping" I warned "she loves fashion"

"I'll risk it, if that's ok." He smiled "wouldn't want you to fall, walking to your flat could be very perilous."

I laughed. I got out of the car and lead him to the building.

"What you going to do about your truck?" he asked

"Oh I'll get Emmett to have a look at it, he can pick it up for me" I answered

"Emmett?" he asked, I hoped I wasn't imagining that lacing of disappointment and annoyance in his tone. "Is that your boyfriend?"

I choked on my spit and started laughing. He probably thought I was insane. "No!" I spluttered, "He's my brother, I don't have a boyfriend." I added for good measure.

"Oh, good" he replied, sounding relieved. I smiled to myself.

I reached the door of the apartment, dug out my key from my back pocket and opened the door. "Alice?" I called

"We're in here" she shouted.

"This way Edward" I walked in towards the living room, where I found Alice, perched on Jasper's knee and Rose and Emmett sitting on the one chair whispering in each others ears. I sighed, looking at the four of them; the term 'fifth wheel' sprang to mind.

"Hey, everyone!" I called, announcing our arrival. I got a smattering of grunts and mumbled greetings "This is Edward" I continued-that got their attention.

Emmett stood up, going into automatic elder-brother mode. Alice and Rose looked at me curiously, whereas Jasper looked at Edward who stood to my right, looking shy.

"Hi" he said attempting to break the silence that had followed.

"Oooo!" Alice sang, "Where'd Bella find you? You're gorgeous!" I turned pink and an amused Jasper said "Um, hello? Boyfriend, still in the room" he reminded her.

"She walked into me, fell over, preceded to tell me how amazing her truck was and how it was really reliable only to have it break down, so I gave her a lift." Edward explained, my pink face turned bright red as he recounted the details of our meeting.

"That sounds like my _kid sister._" Emmett said emphasising the 'kid' and 'sister' in what I think he thought was a subtle attempt at a reminder of the fact that I was his little sister. I sighed; maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

We ordered in a pizza, we sat and talked for ages. Edward and I had a lot in common and we talked for ages, about anything and everything, his family, my family, our home towns, what music we liked. It transpired that we were doing the same classes, classical literature and music. Before we knew it was nearly midnight and everyone had to go or risk missing classes in the morning. After arranging for Edward to pick Alice and me up to take us to campus, I saw Edward out, he gave me a peck on the cheek and shouted at everyone goodnight.

I walked slowly back into the main room, reluctant to go back in and receive the third degree from my brother and be plagued with questions by Alice and Rose. I entered the living room and was greeted by two different exclamations.

"Oh my God, Bella he is perfect for you" screamed Alice, Rose and Jasper nodded their heads in agreement.

"You're too young to have a boyfriend!" yelled Emmett

That immediately irritated me. "What do you mean too young. I am eighteen, almost nineteen years old, Emmett Swan and I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions."

"You are still a child, Isabella" he remained adamant

"Don't you Isabella me, in the eyes of the law I am an adult. I would just like to point out to you, Mr Perfect, Rosalie is only two months older than me, and you have been going out for over a year. Alice has Jasper and they've been together forever. You don't complain about that do you?" I shouted, attempting to calm myself down. From my peripheral vision I saw Alice, Jasper and Rose looking very uncomfortable.

"That's different, you're different. I don't-" he stammered

"Look Emmett, he is just a friend, okay? Nothing will happen, he doesn't like me like that" I interjected, attempting to hide my disappointment that what I was saying was probably true and Edward didn't really like me.

"Why not? Why wouldn't he like you? Does he think he's better than you? Who's he to judge?" he ranted

Rose looked at him bemusedly, whilst Jasper and Alice burst out laughing. I rolled my eyes and launched a pillow at him. "God Emmett," I laughed at his sudden change of view "Someone's changed their tune"

"Mistake, little sister, big mistake" he grinned as he threw two huge pillows at me, I screamed and attempted to duck, only to fall flat on my face, narrowly miss the corner of the coffee table.

"Bella" the four of them moaned exasperatedly, in unison.

**We aren't sure about this one. If you like it review it, if you don't, don't bother and we won't torture you with anymore. Let us know.**

**dazzledduo**

**xoxo**

"


End file.
